Couldn't Pay the Rent!

In November I quit my job to join Josh in his firm, Joshua Best Studio. I did this as a total leap of faith. Leaps of faith are harder to come by in this economy. Safety, security, and knowing what's coming next--that's what people want. Probably half of Josh's friends and acquaintances have lost their jobs in the last two years. If they didn't lose a job they certainly lost income, bonuses, and other benefits.

When no other job was forthcoming, Josh struck out on his own. For about six to eight months, this consisted of nothing more promising than another lunch with another contact trying to sell himself and his skills. We had to accept help from our families to keep us afloat.

When this caused me too much shame and embarrassment, I went to the Department of Family Services to apply for food stamps and daycare assistance. I figured that it would be less shameful to stand on our own by any means necessary than to have our parents pay our bills. When this didn't work we talked about selling our house--another dead end. We exhausted lots of of other possibilities until finally, work started trickling in. Then it started pouring in.

Josh became not just busy, but too busy. All of the sudden he was the breadwinner again and he needed help. So that's where I took this leap of faith--to join him to try and grow this business.

I think there are few people who are close to us who don't question this choice. Or at least worry about it. I didn't take this leap knowing we have years of financial security ahead of us--more like 5-6 months. The rest is up to us--how hard we're willing to work, how many opportunities are out there in this strapped economy, and how much personal fear and stress we can stand.

It kind of feels like an extreme sport--an adrenaline rush every day to where by 3pm, I can count on either feeling like I'm going to pass out from exhaustion or puke from the anxiety. It's pretty exhilarating.

I've wanted to be business owner for a long time. I feel that dream starting to take shape as I see opportunities develop in this new endeavor. Maybe by the summer time it will be a complete failure and we'll have to go back to being employees. But I've already lived out my worst fear--not having money; seriously considering moving into my parents' basement; giving up things that I "want" in place of things that I "need."

I've also seen what no options and very little hope can do to my marriage, my mental well being, and my joy for life. It makes me want to take control and take chances I wasn't willing to take before. It's really lousy and wonderful at the same time. We didn't ask for any of this to happen to us but it was the hand we were dealt, as the old saying goes. So rather than be passive and make choices from fear, I'm taking chances and eliminating regrets. In the meantime, I'm trying not to puke.

Random Thoughts

Harper is absorbing information at an alarming rate. She overhears things and repeats them days, sometimes months later. Usually it's something Josh teaches her. Her latest thing? She puts on a gameshow-host voice and says "Here comes big momma!" whenever I enter a room.

She also likes to wear underwear on her head:

S.A.D.

I found out from my doctor that I have S.A.D.=Seasonal Affective Disorder. He told me I need to go sit under one of those non-tanning lamps and take some vitamin D. I have a feeling that everyone in the Midwest has S.A.D. I was going to list some of the symptoms here so that you could self-diagnose but they are too, well, sad. Plus, when I told my sister, she said, "That's a real thing?! I thought it was just something that happened to people in Michigan." I'm not completely sure what that means but I guess that I would, in fact, be seriously depressed if I lived in Michigan. So there you go.

I tried to find this affliction in my copy of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders." Josh, for years, would not allow me near this book for fear that I would diagnose myself with a host of illnesses. This is true. I always think I have something life-threatening. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a hypocondriac. The DSM classifies Hypochondriasis as "fears of having a serious disease based on a misinterpretation of one or more symptoms." See how handy this book is as a quick reference?

Once, my friends Christy and Aali gave me a novelty gift--a little spinnning wheel of physical symptoms that could be interpreted as anything from a harmless malady to a fatal cancer. The wheel was called "Yes, you really are dying." I laughed when I got it, but I'm telling you, I've used it as a reason to obsess over a sore throat.

I recently had to have the painfully embarrassing conversation with the minister at our church, that I can't take communion by intinction because I don't want to catch the flu from my church friends. At least now, with S.A.D., I can just tell people that I'm too depressed to get out of the pew.

So anyways, I don't like winter, cold, snow--and right now there's a heaping crapload of it coming down on my neighborhood. So until the weather warms up and I can crawl out of my cave, I imagine my days will look a little more like this:

Snow Day!

I don't like the snow. I would like to be living somewhere warm. Nevertheless, it was a snowy, snowy day here in Kansas City so we decided to have a little snowy fun...

We bundled up tight this evening and spent approximately 5 minutes trying to build a snowman. The snow was too soft so we just took some pictures instead.

Harper's first snowball...

A Visit with Great Grandpa Minter

Love, Logic, and Resolutions

I just ordered my copy of "Parenting with Love and Logic" to help me get through '11 without slitting my wrists. If you are a parent with a young child, then you know what I'm talking about (both the book and the wrist slicing). My daughter turned 2 1/2 and went ten shades of crazy. Josh and I were not prepared and we do not seem to have a consistent parenting style. She is starting to rule the household. Not good.

Please let me know if you have a parenting recommendation--book, technique, whatever. I had a discussion about some of this with my cousin over Christmas and we went down the list of currently-favored parenting gurus, but I forgot about "Love and Logic." We'll see how it goes. I love my daughter more than any living, breathing, dead, or inanimate thing, but I also want to string her up by her toes. (I promise I will not go through with this plan so please don't call DFS, person with no children and/or sense of humor).

On another note...tonight I sarcastically asked Josh if he had any special New Year's resolutions as I handed him his footlong, quarterpound, chili cheese coney dog from Sonic. It has over 50 grams of fat. I was thinking that maybe he'd like to use that gym membership he purchased several months ago. But he had another resolution--he wants to be more appreciative. I wanted to say, "maybe you should start by appreciating your arteries," but I love my husband. Plus, I was, admittedly, the one who agreed to drive through Sonic to get Josh the aforementioned meat catastrophe. And I also know that in all seriousness, what Josh meant is that he would like to be more appreciative of all the blessings the last 4 or 5 months have brought us. We have come a long way since January, when there was no work and getting our bills paid was a major lesson in humility.

So yeah. I think that as a New Year's resolution, being appreciative and grateful for our lives, our talents, our joys, and our journey right now is pretty good stuff.

So here are some more resolutions from the Best household:

1. Take a vacation, or two, or three
2. Take piano lessons (Josh)/Take tap classes (Jeana)
3. Exercise patience
4. Pray
5. Indulge in more things that are just for fun
6. Take better care of each other
7. Return my library books on time
8. Trust our instincts
9. Strengthen our friendships
10. Get a regular sized washer and dryer and burn the stackable

Here's to 2011!

Harper Unplugged

New Year's Eve

Harper was home all week with a cold. Yesterday, the car wouldn't start when we wanted to finally escape our domestic prison. This is how failure felt:

So today we went out for breakfast at our favorite restaurant, Succotash. We were so very happy. And full.

Today's Special:

Harper wasn't sure if Daddy could eat it all...

Also, I've been trying to come up with some New Year's resolutions. Really, I just like to write down goals every once in awhile in my journal. Over the last week, however, I discovered Josh sketching in my journal and Harper tearing the pages out. I had to solve this crisis:

I think my innermost musings are safe for awhile.

Happy New Year!

Found the Cord!

No Updates

Reason #1 for never updating my blog:
I can't find my camera cord and I just stubbed my toe for the second time while looking for it. At some point, it's just not worth it.

But I will give it another shot in 2011.

A recap of 2010:
The year started out a little rough. The economy was particulary unkind to us but Josh rallied in the summer, started getting noticed, and landed some great projects through his new firm, Joshua Best Studio, LLC.

I quit my job in November to join his firm and to spend more time with Harper. Not sure what I'm doing yet, except I think it entails ruling the world. Or at least Josh.

My sister had her first child--Austen Lillie (pictured below).

My brother introduced a great new woman into our family--Angela, his fiancee.

We took one, count 'em, ONE vacation to Texas over the summer. We got to hang out with the Texas Gatewoods and Harper got to do one of her favorite and my least favorite things--flying.

That's about it really. Hope you had a great year and that we get to see lots of you in 2011!

Happy 2nd Birthday Harper!

Congratulations!

...to my cousin Paige who is pregnant!

...to my dear friend Christy who is also expecting in the summer!

...and to my book club ladies (Liz, Lisa, Kim, Cathy)--all of whom have had babies in the last few months (and one who is expecting--Stephanie), congratulations!

And here's my lovely baby...

Pictures

Here is a photo tour of our summer--completely out of chronological order. Can't believe we're already headed into September!

Balloon art from our friend Matty Jenkins

Harper's new hiding place

At the Minter Family Reunion. Harper loves her cousin Pat!

Learning to use adult utensils

One year check-up

First trip to the pool

Father's Day with the family

Fingerpainting a picture for Daddy

Daddy and Harper

Happy 1st Birthday, Harper!

Daddy and Harper...Keeping it Real...

We have a lot of catching up to do...

It's becoming more and more challenging to keep this blog up but I won't abandon you all, I promise.

Let's see...Josh and I had our first vacation in years a couple of weeks ago. Where did we go? I'm glad you asked. For our ultra-glamorous getaway, Josh and I chose Branson, MO. We had to pick somewhere cheap and within driving distance so off we headed to the Las Vegas of the midwest. Okay, not really. I mean we really did go, but I was kidding about the Las Vegas part. Obviously.

We stayed on Table Rock Lake and honestly, it was the most relaxation I've experienced since Harper was born. Every parent needs a good getaway! We stayed in a really beautiful condo overlooking the lake and mostly just slept and sat on the back deck. We did venture down to the strip and plunked down $50 to see the new Titanic exhibit. We also went go-cart riding (Josh's choice). Unfortunately we didn't catch any shows. We just couldn't decide between Shoji Tobuchi and the Circle B Chuckwagon Supper & Cowboy Music Show.

Here's a picture of me lounging on our deck in my cabin PJ's and "Branson Hair." FYI, Branson hair is BIG hair. I just couldn't get mine that big. Oh well.

View from our back porch:

A quick stop in Mima and Papa Gatewood's hometown, Halltown, MO:
While we were gone my parents babysat H. Here are some great pictures my Mom took:
In other Harper news, we decided to keep her at her old daycare. After all the teary goodbyes we realized how much the teachers love her there. We really had a hard time pulling Harper out and she just wasn't adjusting well. I know, I know...she wasn't even at her new daycare for 24 hours. She would have adjusted eventually but we are so, so happy that we decided to stay put. Harper is so excited to get to school every morning and her teachers give her lots of love and attention.

Also, check out Harper's latest trick:

She's standing up!!!

I'm also happy to announce that in order to spend some more time with Harper and get a little more work/life balance, I'm going to a four-day work week. It was a hard decision but a necessary one. I won't be missing much work but it will be just enough to help me catch up with life a little bit. I'll be starting my new schedule in April.

Josh has some exciting news also. He submitted an art show idea to a local, high-profile art organization. They accepted it and will be helping him curate the show over the next year. It will be a mixture of work from lots of artists and that's all I'm gonna tell you right now. There's a lot of planning to do but I am really, really proud of him and even though he might not say so, this is a really BIG DEAL.

That's all for now. Here are a few more pictures to keep you occupied:

New Daycare

This is Harper at daycare. As you can see, she actually loves it there. She has really enjoyed her teachers and friends at Montessori Academy. Tomorrow, she will be moving to a new daycare and that kind of breaks our hearts. She's been on the waiting list for the new place since before she was born. It has a great reputation and we know she'll be well taken care of but we had no idea how sad we'd be to put her through such a big change. This is Harper with her favorite teacher, Jackie:

We know that Harper is too little to really know what's going on but we wanted to make sure that Harper could see pictures of her very first teacher--who absolutely adores Harper, and who we hope might babysit once in awhile.

I don't have much else to report so I'll leave you with a few more random pictures...